The girl who waited
by The-trio-until-the-very-end
Summary: Time passes faster in Rose's world, so when Rory and Amy convince the Doctor to go find her, they're surprised to find Rose Tyler thirty years older and alone. "I grew old waiting for you, while you just get younger."


Amy stormed off into a hall of the TARDIS, once again mad. Rory walked over to where the eleventh Doctor was controlling the ship, and sighed. "Women troubles?" The Doctor asked and Rory gave a laugh. "I guess you could say that. Sometimes love stinks. You know that?" The Doctor turned to face Rory, leaning back on the console. "Yeah it can." He replied sadly. Rory cocked his head to the side, realizing he had never asked the Doctor about his past. "Have you ever been in love Doctor?" The eleventh Doctor had told the Ponds he had many other companions, but never going into full detail. "Yes." The Doctor got a far off look on his face. "What was she like?" Rory asked. The Doctor looked around the TARDIS. He didn't want to talk about it. "She traveled with me. She- she was," he couldn't find right words, "she was everything I wanted for a while. But she's gone now." The Doctor finished. "She left you?" Rory asked puzzled about why the girl would leave. "I left her." He left Rory and walked up the stairs. Rory, from his same spot, thought about the Doctor and the women. "What was her name?" He yelled. The Doctor poked his head from around the corner, his eyes were sad. "Her name was Rose Tyler."

Rory thought about Rose Tyler, and how much she meant to the Doctor. "Hey what ya got there?" Amy said, walking into couple's bedroom to find Rory sitting on the bed, looking at a picture. "It's Rose Tyler." Rory said, looking up from the picture. Rory handed his wife the frame. It was a young blonde standing in what looked like the old TARDIS. "I found it in one of the spare rooms in the TARDIS." The ginger nodded slowly. "She's pretty? Who is she?" Rory took the picture back. The man told Amy what the Doctor had told him. "What happened to her?" Rory shrugged. "The Doctor said he left her. And he's never even talked about her before." Amy sat down beside the man. "Maybe he doesn't want to talk about her." She laid her head on Rory's shoulder. "I've never thought about the Doctor ever being in love. It sounds so crazy." Rory nodded and looked back at the picture. "I wonder how long it's been." Amy stood up, "I want to find out more, come on Rory." Rory followed his wife back to the main room in the TARDIS. The Doctor was back at the controls, looking at the tiny screen. "Doctor, look what Rory found. Is this Rose Tyler?" Amy asked, shoving the picture in the alien's face. The Doctor smiled when he saw the picture. "I haven't seen this in a while!" He said taking the frame. "Hello Rose, how have you been?" He asked the frame. The Doctor kept his eyes locked on the frame. Rory thought he stood there waiting for a reply and his eyes turned sad when it didn't come. "Did you love her Doctor?" He looked away from the frame. "Do you love Rory?" Amy nodded, not sure what the question was to answer. "Good, never forget to tell him that." The eleventh Doctor said, placing the frame down and turning back to the screen. "Now I need to fix the execrator, could you leave me to it?" He asked, the Ponds nodded, and backed out of the room. An hour later, Amy realized she left her phone on the counsel and went back down to get it. She stood at the top of the stairs, getting tears in her eyes at the sight below her. The eleventh Doctor was standing right where he was when Amy had left, but he held the picture to his face. The Doctor was completely focused on Rose Tyler's picture. He let a tear drop onto the glass and quickly wiped it away with his sleeve.

The next morning, Amy pretended she never saw the Doctor cry. But when Rory and she looked up Rose Tyler's record on the TARDIS's computer, she had to tell him about them. The couple walked into the room to see the eleventh Doctor under the glass floor, fixing wires. Amy stomped her foot on the glass until the Doctor looked up. "It said Rose Tyler died Doctor, years ago." Amy sadly told the Doctor, showing him the records. The Doctor went back to fixing the wires. "Of course it does. That's what the Earth records say." Amy looked at the Doctor through the glass floor. "But- the Earth records?" Amy looked at her husband for help. "Doctor, this woman, was she human?" Rory asked, serious. The Doctor laughed. "Yes, she was very human. Well, there was this one time when she looked into the TARDIS, and I thought she might become immortal, but besides that, she was human." Amy and Rory were more lost than ever. They didn't understand. "So Rose Tyler is alive?" The Doctor nodded before going back to work. "Then why are we standing around in space then eh? Let's go find her!" Amy cheered happily, heading to the controls. "Which button do I push?" She yelled to the Doctor, who was coming over to his companions. He lifted Amy's hand off a random switch, "you can't find her." Amy pouted. "I think I can. If you show me how! Am I right Rory?" She turned to her husband. "Right, she's really good working a GPS." He defended he wife. Amy smiled and turned back to the time traveler. "See? Now step aside." But the Doctor didn't move. "Amy, you really can't find her. I've tried." He told her. Amy stopped trying to make the Doctor move. "Doctor, what really happened to Rose Tyler?" Amy asked. The Doctor sighed; he knew this day would come.

"Rose Tyler was my companion for a few years. She was strong, independent, and smart." The Doctor smiled. "But then Torchwood came. And she got sent to a parallel world. I was able to talk to her through an image for a few minutes, but it wasn't enough time. Then she came back years later." The Doctor smiled again. "I turned around and Rose was standing there hold a big gun. She helped save the universe. During the battle a clone of me was born. So when it was all over, I dropped Rose back on her Earth and gave her my clone. I didn't know what to do, she begged to come with me, but he needed her more than I needed her. That happened around a year before I met you guys. And here we are! I think that sums it all up." The Doctor finished his story, leaving the humans silent. "That's the end of it? You didn't go back for her?" Rory asked. The Doctor shook his head. "I can't. I closed the void." The three were sitting on the floor of the control room. Amy jumped up. "Then reopen it. I'm not going to sit here and watch you cry over a picture of Rose and not do anything about it. I know if you still loved her, you would find a way to reopen it." She sounded angry. The Doctor looked up at the women. Amy had a determined look on her face. He looked at Rory. He nodded. "Well then, come on gang!" The Doctor shouted. They were going to get Rose.

Rose Tyler drank her coffee slowly on the August morning. She looked at the café's window to see her refection. Her hair was almost completely gray; her brown eyes had shadows below them and had lost their spark. Rose tightened her sweater around her tiny frame; it was always cold in here. "Madam?" The woman looked up, expecting to see her waiter. But instead, there was a young redhead woman. The stranger smiled. "Are you Rose Tyler?" Rose nodded. "Can I help you?" she asked. Amy took the empty chair across the table. "Did you travel with the Doctor when you were younger?" Rose's eyes got big. "I- how do you about the Doctor?" Amy smiled, "because he's looking for you." The look on her face made Amy want to hug the old woman. "I thought he forgot about me." She said, wiping her eyes with her napkin. Amy didn't think she would react this way. "Don't you want to see him? He's changed since you last saw him, but he still misses you." If Rose said no, then they would have come all this way for nothing. But Rose slowly nodded, placing a few wrinkled bills on the table. "Great, let's go!" Amy got up and took the lady's hand. Slowly she led Rose farther down the street. The two arrived at a small empty parking lot. The only thing in the space a blue phone box, sitting in the middle. Rose let go of Amy's arm and walked to the TARDIS, opening it.

Rose stepped inside, followed by Amy. "How it's changed!" Rose looked around the room. Rory was coming down the steps, and smiled when he saw Rose. He hurried over the women, wanting to hug her. "Amy you found-" But Rose intruded his thought. Thinking he was the Doctor, Rose hit Rory on his arm, hard. "That's for leaving me alone." She hit Rory again. "And that was for never coming back." She cried. Amy stood by the door, not sure what to do. This little old lady was beating up her husband. The eleventh doctor came down the steps. "What's going on?" He quickly asked. The Doctor really didn't like it when strangers came in his TARDIS and beat up his companions. Rose turned away from Rory. The Doctor walked over to the other three. Amy cleared her throat. "Doctor, this is Rose Tyler. I finally found her up the street. She wanted to see you again. And you wanted to see her. So here she is!" Amy couldn't help but simile, though she could feel the tension in the air. Rose walked over to the eleventh Doctor. She lifted her hand up to his face, touching his cheek. "Is it really you?" The Doctor nodded, "Yeah, unless you're going to hit me, then no." Rose laughed. It was the same laugh he had heard years before, but this time there was something different in it. "You wear bowties now?" Rose's hand moved down to his neck. "Yeah, bowties are cool." Amy rolled her eyes, "come on Rory, they need to talk." Amy opened the Door and Mr. Pond followed. "Those were the Ponds. Amy's very demanding, but she's ginger, so I keep her around." Rose smiled. "And Rory, well he's a Roman soldier." The Doctor smiled. He loved his new companions for forcing him to come find Rose. "But enough of the Ponds. Why were you so mad?" The Doctor asked, remembering Rose hitting Rory. "Because you left me alone!" The woman screamed.

The Doctor was taken aback by the force of her words. "I had too, I'm lucky I could come back now. And you weren't alone. I made sure of that." Rose shook her head, crying. "How would you know Doctor? It's been thirty years since you dropped us off." The Doctor let his mouth drop. "How old are you Rose?" Rose replied, "I was fifty one last month. Time passes faster here than real Earth." The Doctor nodded, he knew that. "What do you mean I left you alone?" He moved on. "We were married for three months." She was talking about his old clone. "Rose, what happened?" Rose licked her lips. "I found out I was pregnant, and I couldn't wait to tell John. I could just picture that grin he would get, just like you." Rose smiled. Her eyes were focused, she was off dreaming. "I wanted to rush home and start cooking a big meal for the two of us. But I got a call from the hospital." Her smile was gone now. "He caught the flu. I spent the next week holding his hand from beside his bed. He had never been sick with any human thing and caught other illnesses. His heart wasn't ready for the impact of the viruses." Rose started to sop, and the eleventh Doctor quickly took her in his arms. She cried onto his shoulder. "He died. Right there in front of me. I never told him about the baby." Rose stepped out of the Doctor's hug to finish her story. "It was a little girl. She looked just like you use to. She was raised at Torchwood, making sure she could stand diseases. Then one day, they were running some test on her. They found out she was part time lord, like her father. She had one heart. And it was the biggest hear I've ever seen." Rose was in her own world again, smiling. "She would come home from school with stray animals, begging to keep them. When she was a teenager, she worked at the soup kitchen, helping the homeless. But she couldn't cook to save her life, but she tried anyway." The Doctor smiled as well, he knew Rose would be a great mother. "She grew up on stories of you. From Mom, Torchwood and me. She wanted to travel the stars. So that's what she did. By the time she was eighteen, she finished training and went off on her first mission for Torchwood. She would call every so often, telling me where she was. It reminded me of what we use to do. You remember, don't you?" Rose's eyes snapped to the Doctor, "I'll never forget." Rose smiled and patted his cheek. "Then one day she called me. He ship was crashing into an unmarked planet. She knew she was going to die. And she called me to tell me she loved me. That was five years ago. I haven't heard of since, so I can only think the worst." Rose cried. The Doctor looked around the empty TRADIS. "Rose, I'm so sorry." The old woman looked up at him, "I waited for you. I prayed you would show up, but you never did." The eleventh Doctor's hearts were breaking. "I- I didn't know." Rose pulled some hair behind her ear. "I waited thirty years, hoping you would knock at my door, telling me this wasn't real. You thought of everything to make sure I would be happy here, and nothing worked." The Doctor was once again speechless. "I grew old waiting for you, while you just get younger." Rose finished her face red.

The Doctor took Rose into another hug. "I'm so sorry." He repeated, though he knew it wouldn't help. Rose was shorter now, and the Doctor looked down on her. "I know." She whispered. She had grown old waiting for the Doctor to return and save her from her life, and he had let her down. "Rose, come with me." He said, thinking of the perfect idea. But Rose shook her head. "I'm too old for that now. Besides, I'm president of garden club." The Doctor laughed, and Rose cracked a smile. "You still sound like you." He told her. "I'm still me. But really, I can't come with you. I shouldn't." The eleventh Doctor frowned but understood. "Well write me ok? If you ever need anything at all, please." The Doctor walked over to a drawl and pulled out a tiny box. "Put whatever you want inside and press the square on top. The box will come right to me through a tiny hole in the void." Rose nodded. The Doctor placed the glass box in Rose's frail hands.

Rose stepped out of the box, shutting the blue door behind her. She took one last look at the TARDIS, and one last look at the man peeking through the glass windows. She waved, and he waved back. Rose started through the parking lot. Rory and Amy were sitting on the curb. They both stood when Rose got close. "You're leaving?" Amy asked, giving the woman a hug. "Yeah, I don't know if I could handle traveling now. It would be so different." Rory opened his arms, but Rose playfully punched his arm before the hug. "The Doctor isn't the same man I knew." She came out of the hug and smiled at the two humans. "But you two have more adventures for me ok? And if you come across a lost girl, send her back home. Tell her that her mother misses her." The couple nodded. Rose slowly walked away, still holding the glass box. Rory and Amy were walking back to the TARDIS, when Amy turned back. She quickly ran back to Rose. "Rose, I just want you to know, the Doctor may be a different man, but he still loves you." She told Rose. Rose's sad eyes had a tiny spark. The lady smiled as the ginger ran back to her husband. Rose watched as Rory opened the TARDIS door and let Amy go in first. Rory looked at Rose, and gave a quick smile before disappearing inside.

Months later, the trio was traveling in space. Rory was sitting on the steps when he heard a knock at the Door. Confused, he called for the Doctor. Amy and the eleventh Doctor both came running into the room. "I think you've got mail." Rory told the Doctor. The eleventh Doctor smiled and opened the TARDIS doors. A little glowing glass cube was floating in front of the small crowd. "It that from…" Amy begin, but the Doctor finished with a smile, "Rose, yeah." He popped the box open and drew out a letter. The Doctor read it out loud.

_**Dear Doctor,**_

_** I promised I would write you. And I am at last. I only wanted to send you one letter, because I knew I wouldn't get the chance to write anymore. Ever since you gave me the cube, I knew what I would write in it. My goodbyes. I'm now sixty three, and hospitalized because I'm having trouble breathing on my own. I hope this turns up to the write place in time, if not I'm sorry. And just hide the letter until it's the right time.**_

_**I left that parking spot kicking myself for not coming with you, I could be with you instead of here. But when I got home, I got out that big box of things I have from other planets. All the things I collected, the pictures we took, and the things that remind me of you. I sat in my rocking chair looking at it and realizing I did the right thing. I was so young when we first met, you changed my life, you gave me a life. I might still be working at the bloody shop if a man with a leather jacket and big ear hadn't showed up. **_

Here the eleventh Doctor let out a mix of a laugh and a cry. Amy, close to tears, and Rory didn't understand the reference.

_**But he did, and he showed me that there was more to life than what they taught me. I wouldn't of changed my mind coming into that blue box of your for nothing. Standing in Bad Wolf Bay so many years ago, I realized I couldn't live without my Doctor. But I kinda did. I was married to the love of my life for a short while and had the best girl in the world before she flew away. I was always happy and sad at the same time. And seeing you brought all that back. I knew if I came with you, I wouldn't want to leave. I could picture old me dying on the TARDIS, could you imagine how that would be? It would be worse than reading this letter now. Its better you left me this time before we got too attached. But that doesn't mean I don't think about what you're up to right now. Where you might be, who you might meet. If you ever meet Queen Elizabeth, tell her Rose Tyler said hello for me. **_

_** I'm running out of room on this paper. I feel like I've just rambled on. Other people think I'm crazy. I didn't tell you that did I? But I would have thought an old woman living alone in the big family estate, who had lost her whole family, and spoke about made up places was crazy too. But I would have tried to talk to her. Maybe I made myself crazy. Crazy Rose Tyler, that's me. All that's missing is an orange cat. But that's ok Doctor, I didn't mind being crazy or out there. After all, I was out-there. In my own world, far away from yours. So goodbye Doctor, I miss you. And tell the demanding ginger and the Roman I said goodbye too. You always choose the best companions; I guess that's why I still can't believe you choose me.**_

_**Love the girl who waited, **_

_** Rose Tyler**_

The Doctor smiled down at the paper through the tears. Amy was the first to speak, "It's a shame she's gone." The Doctor nodded. "Come here." Amy said, wrapping her arms around the Doctor. He stood there, his hand in a fist grasped on the paper. "She's dead." He said with his voice cracking. Rory looked down at the floor. He had never seen the Doctor like this. "She's dead." He whispered. Something inside of the Doctor burst. Rose Tyler had died of old age, labeled as a crazy old woman. He cried on Amy's shoulder, whimpering like a puppy. "But you have the letter, remember the letter?" Rory spoke, trying to cheer the Doctor up. The Doctor raised the letter to his eye level. _**The girl who waited, Rose Tyler.**_ Saying goodbye was never easy for the Doctor, even after all these years.


End file.
